Garvey Maceo mourning the death of teacher JTA honoured last year

Teachers and other staff at Garvey Maceo High School in Clarendon are in mourning following the death of Ann-Marie Robb who died in the May Pen Hospital Sunday night.

Robb was honoured by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) last August for the role she played in leading the charge in the search for her missing colleague, Natalie Dawkins, who went missing on March 30 and was later found dead in bushes on April 8.

Commenting on her colleague’s demise, Sheida Smith, who was also a part of the search team with Robb, said the death has rocked her to the core.

“I met Ann-Marie Robb when she first started working at Garvey Maceo High School about 15 years ago. She was a very fun person who was extremely active in the performing arts. She was very dedicated to her students and it took nothing more than a hello to develop a friendship with her,” Smith shared on their relationship.

She also said that Robb was a dedicated mother to her two children, Davia and David, as she said they were her world.

Smith said the last time she spoke with Robb was on her birthday, February 3, when she was in the hospital.

“Even though I knew she was in the hospital, I never expected that she would have passed off last night (Sunday). I’m still in shock. The education system has lost an excellent teacher; her children have lost a super mom; and her co-workers, a friend/sister. She will be missed at home, at school, and at the JCDC (Jamaica Cultural Development Commission) performing arts competitions,” Smith noted.

INFECTIOUS PERSONALITY

Garvey Maceo teacher representative, Shanique Gayle, in remembering Robb, spoke about her infectious personality and said she was beyond jovial and fun-loving. She said that Robb had an exciting personality that was displayed in the classroom and throughout the school community.

“She incorporated jokes, skits, laughter and everyday life situations in her lessons. Outside of that, she was an actress and dancer. She led the All Together Sing School Choir. She was full of school spirit and school pride,” Gayle said.

Fellow teacher at Garvey Maceo, Allison Gordon, is still trying to process Robb’s death and said even now it still seems surreal.

“I only heard last week that she was in the hospital. I am still in shock ... even in disbelief. I’m at a loss for words right now. We are in the same 40-something age group,” she said of Robb, who taught first to third form and was the choir director, as well as part of the drama team.

cecelia.livingston@gleanerjm.com